


Stop

by Shaish



Category: X-Men: First Class (2011) - Fandom
Genre: Angst, Gen, M/M, Violence
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2012-06-30
Updated: 2012-06-30
Packaged: 2017-11-08 20:46:25
Rating: Not Rated
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings, Graphic Depictions Of Violence, Major Character Death
Chapters: 1
Words: 642
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/447378
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Shaish/pseuds/Shaish
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>It happens again and again. Will it ever be right?</p>
            </blockquote>





	Stop

Stop

“How many more times must we do this?”

The world goes white.

Charles bolts.

Picks himself up in one ragged movement, pushing up off of the sand with his gloved hands and just runs, kicking sand up behind him in that one moment, in the takeoff.

Erik stops the bullet before it's even out of the barrel of the CIA's standard issue firearm, sends it straight back through and into Moira's forehead. His reaction time has gotten better.

They've done this so many times now.

_Maybe. This time. This time it'll be different. **This time**.._

But the bullet doesn't stop, it overshoots. Ricochets off the underside of the the front end of the Blackbird upturned in the sand.

_Of course it does._

Charles falls instantaneously, no longer any hesitation, the only thing he does anymore is bring his hands up to prevent his face from being bashed in by the sand.

Erik turns around. He doesn't want to, but there's a strange sound coming from behind him, something different, something new. So he runs, over to Charles, drops to his knees in the sand at his side, idly thinks that he can't even remember what asphalt and grass feel like anymore, even just during an impact, any impact. 

His hands move now in familiar motions, lifting Charles and turning him over, back coming to rest heavy and warm on his thighs, against his stomach. He finds the source of the new sound, the change, and his stomach drops out. 

He didn't think that could still happen. Not after everything he's seen. But.

The bullet went through Charles' throat. 

There's red everywhere. So much red. So much blood. 

Absently, he's realizes he's come to think the color suits Charles.

It makes his skin look that much more beautiful, almost luminescent, his eyes that much more clear. It almost looks like one of Raven's- Mystique's scarves, beautifully draped around his slender neck.

Those too blue eyes are staring up at him, they always are, red lips- _So much red everywhere_ \- trying to say something, but can't get past Erik's name. They never do.

Everything else is forgotten. Everyone else is forgotten.

The world goes white.

“Erik- Stop-”

That's all he ever hears Charles say in the place they go after the beach. They're only there for a moment, the briefest moment, and he never gets to finish whatever it is he's saying before he's faded out again, back to where Erik soon follows. Back to that forsaken beach.

Erik thinks _“I'll stop her. I'll stop her this time, Charles. **I'll stop her**.”_

But what comes out instead is always something else entirely, never says what he means, it always stays in his head, the one important thing. Always stays buried in his mind, in his heart, in his soul, caged in barbed wire and metal fences and walls as tall as the eye can see. And come to think of it, he's never let Charles take a look inside. There's a crack in the corner of it all, like someone's taken an ice pick to it and tried to slam their way through from the outside in, a faint glow of light emitting from the break, a beautiful light. He's sure Charles would think so, as much as he might disagree. But they had so little time, they needed more time, _**it** needed more time-_

“How many more times must we do this?”

And all the while, all the countless times he's seen Charles die in a hundred different ways, forgotten the missiles in the air, the looming threat of humanity over all of their heads, over _his_ head, over _Charles'_ head, seen Moira fire her gun, seen her not even get the chance to, he never thought, _“I know Charles, that's not really what you meant.”_

The world goes white.

 

 

_“Erik- Stop-”_


End file.
